n. 1 a green garden vegetable, Spinacia oleracea, with succulent leaves. 2 the leaves of this plant used as food. spinach beet a variety of beetroot cultivated for its edible leaves. spinaceous adj. spinachy adj.
[ prob. MDu. spinaetse, spinag(i)e, f. OF espinage, espinache f. med.L spinac(h)ia etc. f. Arab. ' isfanak f. Pers. ispanak: perh. assim. to L spina SPINE, with ref. to its prickly seeds ]